Murodani Rice Terraces

 

On the southern slopes of Mount Taima can be found the Murodani Rice Terraces.

In 1999 they became classified as one of the top 100 rice terraces in Japan.

There is currently about 1,000 of them here, but in earlier days, there were four times as many.

There are signs and a short path to a designated viewing point. I guess that reduces the amount of trespassing to get good photos.

The best times to view would be around Mat and June, when the paddies have been flooded and seedlings planted....

I recently posted on some other "top" rice terraces, the Nakayama Rice Terraces on Shodoshima Island.

The interesting thing, for me at least, is that these rice terraces, like those up in Okuizumo, were a by-product of the traditional iron industry.

Japan has almost no iron-ore, so domestic iron and steel was produced using iron sand, something the Chugoku Mountains have a lot of. The terraces were made after the valley had been " mined" for the iron sand. I did read a complicated, translated explanation on how the soil and rocks of the ground were separated from the sand, and that this process somewhat started the process of the terraces being formed, but I didn't really understand it.

A couple of years ago, while visited Hagi and its World Heritage sites connected to Japans industrialization in the Meiji period, I can across a tatara, the kind of forge used in creating iron from iron sand, that the Mori Clan had set up to create iron for its building of a western-style ship.

It seems that here in Murodani is where the iron sand came from. It was shipped down to the coast on horses, transferred to Kitamaebune ships and taken down the coast to Abu, near Hagi, then packed up into the mountain site of the tatara by horses again. If you have any interest in the history of tatara I have plenty of posts on Okuizumo about the topic.

If you want to learn more about the Kitamaebune ships, click here.

The previous post in this series was on the views from the top of Mount Taima.

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The Views from Hemp Mountain

At 599m, Taima-San (Hemp Mountain) is the highest coastal mountain in the Hamada area. Among the many antennae and towers that bristle from its peak is an observation tower

At the base of the mountain is the town of Sufu, home to the largest kofun (burial mound) in the Iwami area.

The Chugoku Nature Trail passes over Taima-san, and there is an interesting shrine and garden just below the peak which I covered in some earlier posts...

These photos were taken on two different visits.

The 1st, 9th, and 10th photos are of the Misumi Power Station. This is a big coal-fired plant that, since these photos were taken, has doubled in size. As a side note, for those of you that know me from a previous life, the original plan for the power plant was to import coal from Black Mesa in Arizona, but shifted to Australian and Chinese coal.

If you come up the mountain from Sufu on the Nature Trail, you pass right by the biggest kofun in all of Iwami.

Photos 6 and 7 are of Sufu. Photos 8 and 11 are of Hamada, further up the coast. The famous "bridge to nowhere" is clarly visible.

Photos 2, 3, and 12 are of views inland over the Iwami region.

The previous post was on Taimasan Shrine, the large shrine with gardens just below the peak.

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Taimasan the Hemp Shrine

 

Mount Taima, 599 meters above sea level, is the highest mountain on the coast between Hamada and Misumi in Shimane.

About halfway up the narrow mountain road from the sea to the shrine close to the top of the mountain,  a giant torii straddles the road.

The miuntain was originally named Futagoyama, but the name was changed by imperial decree in 888 following a "divine revelation". I cant find out anuthing about the revelation except that since the start of the 8th century monks had been living on the mountain. In 889 the kami from Oasahiko Shrine in Tokushima was transferred here and the branch shrine established.

Oasahiko Shrine was originally established by the Imbe Clan, sent to Shikoku to find good land for growing hemp. The hemp plant motif is all over the shrine here at Taimasan, but cannot be seen at Oasahiko Shrine.

There is a local legend of the Imbe Clan moving into the area of Mount Taima and driving out the Ono Clan. According to the story they moved down the coast to the mountain where Susa is in Yamaguchi, the next landmark high mountain down the coast. On the slopes of Mount Taima is an area of large boulders. They were thrown here by a giant on the mountain near Susa. According to the legend, an agreement was reached between the Imbe and the Ono and they returned to the area, but the Imbe kept Mount Taima. One source suggests that the Yamato sent the Imbe into Iwami to help contain  Izumo.

The original kami of the shrine were Oasahiko, Sarutahiko, Amahiwashi, and Zao Gongen.

Several temples were established around the shrine and in the mid 10th century another series of kami were enshrined here; Kumano Gongen, Sanno Gongen, Hakusan Gongen, and Hashiryu Gongen. As can be inferred by this list, Taimasan became a major Shugendo site.

In the early 16th century the shrine-temple complex was destroyed  during the war between the Amago and Ouchi clans. It was rebuilt, and a scroll painting dated to the late 16th century depicts it as a very large complex of shrines and temples with the nickname of Koyasan of the West, a nickname it shared with numerous other sites in western Japan.

In 1836, a major landslide destroyed the shrine and temple, and only the shrine was rebuilt in 1844, along with part of the temple.

In 1872, everything was again destroyed, this time by the Hamada Earthquake. Due to the anti-Buddhist movement, only the shrine was rebuilt.

Today, the shrine stands alone in the middle of the forest. The old temple garden has been restored and is well worth a visit. On the top of the mountain among all the antennae is an observation tower with fantasticviews.... I will cover that next

Hemp has a long and glorious history in Japan, though since it was banned by MacArthur in 1948 it has become very demonized and many Japanese have no idea of its history.

It has been cultivated here long before the Yamato immigrated here. Its main use was its fibre used for many products but mainly for clothing.

It continues to be used for some Shinto implements and there are dozens of small, licensed farms that legally produce it for this purpose,including use by the Emperor.

It is also used in a herb and spice mix called shichimi. One of my favorite Japanese patterns found on many fabrics and other products is Asa no Ha, a hexagonal pattern associated with good luck.

Some years ago we went to a hemp festival at a farm in Tottori. This post has details, though unfortunately no photos. The farm has since been closed down for growing the smokable version.

I have been unable to find out anything about hemp production in the area around Mount Taima, but since the region was not so well suited for rice production, I would think there would have been a lot of it.

After the introduction of cotton in the late 19th century, hemp production declined somewhat, but it remained an important crop, especially during the war.

The previous post in this series on Mount Taima was on the restored garden of the former Sonshoji Temple.

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Garden at Taimasan Shrine

 

This is the second post on the garden at Taimasan Shrine. In the previous post, I showed how the garden looked in 2010, but this post is photos from a visit at the end of 2021.

In the second and third photos, a new garden has been built between the entrance to the shrine and the old temple garden. This new garden was built by the current head priest and is composed of two parts, Iwakura, and Iwasaka.

An Iwakura is a rock into which a kami descends, and an Iwasaka is a rock that mark the boundary of sacred space.

This makes this new garden very much a shinto garden.

The major difference in the main garden from when I visited 11 years earlier, is the white gravel area.

Also, this was the end of May, so some of the small trees are now full of leaves, and there are still a few flowers left on the azalea bushes.

For information on the history of the garden, please refer to the previous post.

The previous post in this series on  MountTaima, literally Hemp Mountain, was on the garden 11 years earlier....

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